Heart Of Stone
by noshitkatpiss
Summary: Aurora goes abroad the Jolly Roger to have her revenge on Hook.


Killian Jones was standing on the deck of his ship surveying the ocean. The sky had darkened and the waves were gathering speed and height. The sea was angry, ravenous- the sea he loved to see most. A smile crept up in the corner of his lips; he was home.

Again, Aurora woke. Her heart was there. She touched her chest to feel it. Yes, it was beating. _Thump. _

Strangely enough, it was Rumplestitskin who gave her back her life, or rather, the reason she was alive. The man who Emma and Snow had warned him so much against, and who's own spinning wheel made her fall asleep under the curse. Before all of this, she had maybe seen him twice. He came to the castle and was waiting in the gardens when she saw him. He handed her a rose: "Here you go, dearie." The other time she was little; she could not remember. It all happened when she fell asleep; she was exhausted from walking to the lake or whatever it was they were trying to find; to be honest it was all a long dark haze of whispered words, a glimpse of a pathway, and the rest she could not remember. In that horrible, horrible room, she saw Henry. But that was not the only thing; she felt like herself again. After a bit of tedious to and fro between her, Henry and Rumplestiltskin, she knew what to do. Henry told him of whom exactly he was speaking to and she told him exactly how she felt; she couldn't remember things sometimes; they were all a haze of words and mumblings. He understood, and he knew a remedy; he told her what she must do.

She climbed on deck, seeing Hook survey his ship, surveying the ocean. He didn't look as if he was armed. Yes, his sword was lying a few yards from him. "Did Cora leave you?" she asked, and coldly watched him turn around to face her. His face exhibited shock, which he quickly tried to hide, and turned on that slight charm that he always used with her. He wasn't condescending, or mocking as he was with the others, toward her he showed something worse; pity. He was always nice to her, calling her "sweetheart" and made himself look the most honorable of men. She saw through him as clear as day now, she saw that he saw her as weak and pitied her. He didn't even pick up his sword; she wasn't a threat. "We had a… difference of opinion, you might say. Though you might say…" he edged towards her a little more. She walked up to him, her smile as sweet as syrup, her face like a perfect rose. One might expect it to be innocent and harmless. "Say what?" she smiled up at him; they were almost touching now. His un-hooked hand went to her hair and ran his fingers through it. "I was looking for you… Princess" he smiled and lowered his eyes on her dress. She smiled a little shyly and blushed the faintest shade of pink. "And I…" her voice trembled with mock embarrassment. "I…" she reached into her pocket and drew out a rock, slowly maneuvering her hand to the back of his head. "I was looking for you." The last words were icicles, the rose showed its thorn. Aurora smiled; but it was not the shy, innocent, girl like smile. No, this was more like a tiger's smile when it catches up with it's prey, or a thief upon seeing gold. Hook feel down with a thud.

"Princess!"

She heard Hook's call and came to the cell she'd tied him up in, echoing in the empty ship, bouncing off the metal, mixed in with the sound of the approaching thunder. His tone had changed to an angry shout, still slightly tinged with the sound of flirtation. She was in the food cupboard- it was amazing how much food there was and that his crew, while abdicating the ship, hadn't taken it all. She still managed to make herself a meal of fine wine from a faraway land called Westeros (at least that's what the fading label had said), some cold chicken, fruit and cheese. She arranged this all on a tray and, taking her time, carried it along the hallway and sat it down on the, across from his cell. Then, calmly she sat down and began to eat her food, slowly, savouring each bite. "It's true what they say," she said, looking into straight into Hook's eyes. "revenge _is _sweet." She laughed, and put a strawberry into her mouth, washing it all with a glug of wine.

"I have no idea what you mean…"

"Spare me."

"You've bloody tied me up! There are men out there who want to kill me, if I don't sail they'll succeed, they'll sink this ship." Hook tugged pointlessly at his chains.

"What do I care?" she said lightly, lifting a corner of her mouth as she lifted the wine glass to her lips. "It's not my ship."

Killian Jones seemed to have no answer to this, so he stared at her, his piercing green eyes showing the upmost hatred, looking into her ocean blue ones, and seeing in them a reflection. Her eyes were like the storm raging outside.

"I hate you." she uttered the words, staring him in the face. No elaboration, nothing. Just 'I hate you' for that was what she was feeling- pure hate.

"Now, Princess…" he said, smiling and slightly biting his lip, "Is that really necessary?"

She put the wine glass down and glared at him. "Yes." she said lightly. "I was the one who believed you. When others doubted your loyalty, I never hesitated to hear you out. I thought you might want to actually help us. When you 'saved' me then, I felt so grateful. I almost couldn't believe it. I was right, wasn't I? Because you'd taken my heart." she was growing sadder and angrier with every second. "You took my heart. Do you know what it's like? I spent an eternity under the sleeping curse, I was stuck in that hole and that room, ready to spend it all regretting my entire life! And then you took me and made me into a puppet, a doll!"

She was breathing heavily now, her chest rising. Hook looked at her seriously now, a little curious. "You got it back?" he whispered.

"Yes. I'm not as stupid as you think." she replied.

"How?"

"A man called rumplestiltskin taught me where the hearts are kept, and how one might be able to get it back. So I did. There's just one glitch, you see. I have the box where my heart was kept with me, and to throw Cora off the scent, just for good measure, I thought I'd replace it."

"Now, Aurora," Hook said, using her real name for once, a pleading tone in his voice. "Surely, you wouldn't do that? It's useless."

She said nothing as she opened the cell door, and brandished her small cutting knife, a deadly thorn in her hand. She came up to him, tied up, slowly, enjoying the taste of revenge. It was, indeed, sweet. She stood next to him, their feet touching, their eyes met. She lifted her knife and lightly outlined the one cut that she would need to take Hook's heart. He swallowed, lifting his eyes to the ceiling, closing them. Then his eyes met hers again, and with a pleading tone in his voice he said "Come on, Sweetheart, I'll cut you a deal. I have connections to Storybrooke-"

"You don't have connections. Don't lie. Cora left you. You don't know how to get there."

"- I have a ship, and you know rumplestiltskin, I think we could cut some sort of a deal. Come on, sweetheart, this isn't you." he smiled and attempted to run his fingers through her hair again, but the chain stopped him halfway. Aurora laughed at this feeble gesture. 'The only deal I'll cut you" she said, her knife still on his torso "Is a heart for a heart. That's the price you pay."

Suddenly, the sound of thunder broke out, and both of them flinched. This was followed by more and more thunder, and the rain was now pounding heavily on deck. But the sound was not only of thunder; there was another, far more decisive and deadly. They both froze, forgetting each other, and their heads slowly turned towards the source of the noise. _Thump. _The ship staggered, and the vibrations travelled through it, the sound echoing in Hook and Aurora's heads. Abruptly, they both ducked. _Thump._ The canon hit the ship again, this time closer. Too close. They both ducked and covered their eyes from the wood and gravel flying around. "Stop blowing 'oles in my ship!" Hook shouted at the attackers, pointlessly of course. And then Aurora noticed. She'd dropped her knife and the chains still clamped on his hands, but they were no longer connected to the ship or the wall. She was now, in fact, facing Hook as the looked on the knife at the ground. Instinctively they both dived in, scrambling on the floor. He pushed her aside, but she clawed her way in, kicking and pushing him. He looked as if he hadn't expected it. He may have been a vagabond and a criminal but he was only slightly above battling a lady, of royal birth no less. Pushing her aside, he grabbed the knife, but Aurora, with the wit and skill of a squirrel jumped on his back and began to make quite precise punches. "Aww, Princess!" Hook screamed in pain as she bit his hand. Hard. He dropped the knife for a split second, but that was enough for her to grab it. Having defeated Hook and established her victory she now smiled slightly to herself, rubbing her hand on her dress to get off the slight splurges of blood. Hook stood up. "Angry you've been beaten by a Princess, Captain?" she said, breathing heavily, smiling wickedly at him. He advanced towards her, cornering her into the side of the wall. She may have been more nimble than him, but in a match of physical strength it was no puzzle who would win. She held out the knife in front of her.

"You come any closer to me and it's going straight through you!"

He kept on advancing until she was pressed up against the wall; the only space she could now escape was the small hole in the cell the canon had made. His body pressed against her; it made her feel strangely uncomfortable. They were both breathing heavily. His hand pressed the one she was holding the knife with along the wall. He looked her into the eyes, a triumphant gleam in his own. They stood there, frozen for a moment. She could not escape, he wasn't allowing for that, neither could he grab the knife without letting go of there. They were equal now, both stuck in a power struggle they could not hold, their bodies close to each other, his warmth against her skin, his hand's tight grip on hers sent unexpected fluttering down her whole body. Through her choked breath, she looked defiantly at him and whispered again

"I hate you."

He made no reply. Finally, realizing that she could not hold on to the knife she decided- _if I can't have it, nobody will._ With one gentle flick of her wrist she sent the knife flying to the other corner of the room, landing dangerously close to another hole the canons had made. They had subsided for now. They both looked at the knife, then at each other. She ran over to the place where it lay, being able to run faster than he, and lay down on the floor protecting the weapon of revenge. She was dangerously close to the hole; outside she could see the ocean, an dark indigo, a raging storm, all hell had broken loose. He threw himself on top of her, wrestling to get the knife. Again, their bodies were dangerously close, and this time Hook hadn't like the way his body fluttered when grabbing her hand to wrestle the knife free. He had only planned on using her to win cora, now to get the knife and a passage to Rumplestiltskin; not on this.

"You know you're not going to win, Princess." he whispered in her ear, and then laughed. "May as well give it to me now."

Aurora decided; she wasn't going to win. There was no way, without the use of chains, that she could be above Hook. Now they were equal. The only people on a bombarded ship in the storm, with only one knife. She made the decision and threw the knife into the hole. Hook gasped, as so did she, for now revenge would surely be harder. They watched the knife fall, into the abyss of the sea, both quiet and unflinching. The sounds of thunder broke out overhead.


End file.
